Traditional dress protects ethnic girls from emotional problems

Apr 16 2008

New research from Britain suggests that teenage girls from some minority communities who adhere to their family customs have better mental health.

The researchers from London's Queen Mary University, interviewed 1,000 white British and Bangladeshi teenagers and found that Bangladeshi girls who chose traditional rather than 'western' dress had fewer behavioural and emotional problems.

The researchers say close-knit families and communities helps to protect them even though the pressure to fully integrate fully could be stressful.

Co-author of the report Professor Kam Bhui says traditional clothing represents a tighter family unit, and this may offer some protection against some of the pressures that young people face.

The researchers say that adolescents are particularly vulnerable to mental health problems and their identity is often bound up in friendship choices or clothing, which plays a role.

The one thousand 11 to 14-year-olds were questioned about their culture, social life and health, including questions designed to reveal any emotional or mental problems.

The researchers found that the Bangladeshi students who wore traditional clothing were significantly less likely to have mental health problems than those whose style of dress was a mix of traditional and white British styles.

However when this was further broken down by gender, it appeared that only girls were affected and a similar effect was not found in white British adolescents who chose a mixture of clothes from their own and other cultures.

Professor Bhui says the results were a surprise because he had expected that girls who were less fully integrated to show signs of greater strain and he suggests that pressuring ethnic minority groups to integrate fully into a host society could be dangerous.

Professor Bhui says traditional clothing may reflect a protective environment, a traditional upbringing and religion, and religious coping mechanisms may be a part of their way of avoiding mental problems.

Professor Bhui has criticised countries who ban Muslim clothing such as headscarves.

The report is published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.